Let’s assume that you have been in your home for 30 years and that you have diligently kept up with maintenance. The kids have moved out and you are ready to move to warmer climates. You call your local Real Estate Agent, who recommends a little staging; taking down personal pictures, de-cluttering, painting, and so on. You feel confident that you are ready to put your house on the market.

The agent finds a buyer for your house. The buyer then hires a Home Inspector. The inspector shows up and proceeds to take hundreds of pictures of your home and then writes up a lengthy, not so flattering, report on your property. The buyer walks away from the deal.

What went wrong? To the untrained eye, the property appears to be in great condition. Nevertheless, if your home was built 30 or more years ago, the home inspector may have found:

1. Asbestos tiles on the floor;
2. Asbestos and lead paint on the popcorn-finished ceiling;
3. A Federal Pacific electrical panel that has been recalled;
4. Siding that is the subject of a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer;
5. Possible PCB and asbestos-contaminated storm window caulking;
6. Caulking covering the weep holes in the storm windows;
7. No safety glass in any of the doors;
8. Lead paint everywhere;
9. No Wythe or flue separator in the fireplace;
10. No anti-tipping device on the gas stove;
11. The gas stove does not vent to the exterior;
12. No GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) receptacles anywhere;
13. No AFCI (Arc-Fault Circuit Breakers) in the panel;
14. An open sump pump in the basement;
15. Missing hand railings;
16. Insulation installed with an exposed vapor barrier;
17. A missing attic ventilation system;
18. Mold on the attic sheathing; and
19. Termite entry at the base of the basement stairs and continuing up to the first-floor joists.

Your first reaction to the failed sale of your home might be anger at the inspector. It is not the Inspector’s fault; he or she is simply doing the job he or she was hired to do and pointing out the facts about an aging property. If you stop and think about it, you would want the same level of professionalism and attention to these important details if you were the buyer. But, how would you know all these problems were in your own home?

Unless you are in the industry, building or inspecting homes, you wouldn’t be expected to know about these things. It can be very helpful, before you list your home for sale, to have a home inspector do a seller’s consultation for you. If he finds any problems that might slow down or stop the sale of your home, you can fix it before you list it or at the very least, know what will potentially turn up on a buyer’s inspection.

Indicators of mold in an attic do not necessarily mean mold growth or activity. Excessive water vapor must be present for that to happen. Mold spores that grow on wood start out in a circular manner then send out feeding tubes that resemble fingers on a hand.

Insulation traps water vapor. Particularly with dirt basements, water vapor will migrate through the house eventually settling in the attic. Each layer of added insulation will trap more water vapor which will create an environment for mold growth. A dirt basement would have to have a vapor barrier installed and an adequate attic ventilation system would have to be improved upon or installed to handle the effects of additional insulation.

In nearly 100% of the attics we remediate, additional insulation was the culprit. If you call an insulation company to add additional insulation, they will likely request that you have your attic remediated for mold (even if it’s not necessary) before they install the insulation, leaving any responsibility for new mold growth to the homeowner. Before you consider having insulation installed, take care of the vapor and ventilation issues first.

When preparing a house for sale, the usual steps are to make sure things are uncluttered, clean, smell nice and are generally spiffed up.

As a licensed home inspector and mold remediation contractor, there are four things that I consistently see holding up, slowing down or even be a deal-breaker on a sale. I encourage all sellers to make sure the following items are handled prior to listing and showing a property for sale.

If you live in Massachusetts and have a septic system, a seller is required to have a Title 5 inspection. Have it done and be able to present the certificate to your potential buyer when it passes, or fix what needs to be fixed to make it pass.

There is mold in a great percentage of attics because houses are now so well-insulated with improper ventilation, or maybe there was an ice dam situation. Mold remediation usually takes only a few hours with a transferable warranty to that new buyer.

Have an electrician make sure your electric panel is up to code.

Test the home for radon. Radon testing kits are easily available and simple to use.

Mold growth in a home is the result of increased trapped water vapor. Water vapor is of course caused by a number of sources including: bathroom fans venting into the attic, cooking, showering, improperly vented dryers etc.

But water entry can happen in an area that you may not think of.

What could your electrical service have to do with mold? If the electrical service into your home is installed incorrectly, (where the weather head is lower than the electrical service attachment point), water can enter the circuit breaker panel and evaporate into the basement. Moving past the obvious fire hazard of water and electricity, this is an overlooked source of water entry into the home. The pictures are numbered in order of how water can enter through the electrical service:

I’m sure that if you are a home inspector, you also noted the over full panel, the double tapping, the spliced wires, as well as the neutrals and grounds under the same lug. The main point is that water entry can come from a number of places, some of them you might not immediately think of.

Today’s tip is to check the bathroom fan. Make sure it does not vent the into the attic. The excess humidity can cause mold to grow on the attic sheathing. The blackened insulation in the picture is a combination of moisture and dust. Mold does not grow on fiberglass insulation, but it can grow on the dust trapped in the insulation. Remember that mold only eats damp digestible materials. Mold will grow on the paper backing of the insulation.

Keeping your basement dry is key to preventing mold growth. With all the rain we have been having here in Massachusetts, you may find that you have a problem with water in your basement.

When your house was built, the yard sloped away from the building, acting like the roof and drawing water away. After years of water dripping next to the foundation, the yard has sunk down next to the house and water is now directed towards the foundation.

One solution is to add new dirt and grass and build the ground cover back up o slope the yard away from the house. A good rule is one inch to the foot for 10’. Also, maintain 8”of minimum clearance from the dirt and the wood siding or trim to keep the wood from rotting and to keep termites out.

I actually prefer the 18”rule; 18” of clearance between the siding and the dirt or ground cover, 18” of clearance between the siding and fully grown shrubs, 18” of clearance between a finished basement wall and the foundation wall and an 18” of overhang at the soffits.

In some cases you may need to add a swale to control water. A swale is a water harvesting ditch or depression that is used to handle storm water runoff.

This yard in the picture slopes towards the home in every direction. You can see how water will be drawn directly into the basement.

Did you know that a 700 sq. ft. dirt basement can discharge up to 10 gallons of water a day? Even a concrete floored basement can discharge large quantities of water through simple evaporation. If you insulate the floor joists above this dirt floor, the insulation can absorb the water vapor and become soggy, presenting a condition that can lead to mold growth.

Excess water vapor trapped in a house can accumulate in the attic and may contribute to, or even cause an attic mold problem. Install a vapor barrier or concrete over the dirt floor. To help with prevention, remove any insulation from the ceiling over the dirt basement floor. You should also provide a heat source for the basement and keep humidity levels between 35% and 50%.

If you have a small amount of mold on your bathroom ceiling (as in fig. 1), you can probably handle it yourself. Use whatever you normally use for cleaning (except bleach). Spray it on and let the cleaner do the work. The typical dwell time, the time you should let it absorb into the sheet rock, is about ten minutes. You may need to spray it a few times. Then use a sponge with a scrubbing side to remove it. This may cause some damage to the surface of the sheet rock a little.

If you’re project is slightly bigger (as in fig. 2), you should probably let us handle it.

Why not use bleach? If you spray bleach overhead, it will fall back down into your eyes or face. When you are in the emergency room, having your eyes flushed out and the doctor asks you, “who told you to do that?” The answer better not be Google.

Below is information from the warning labels from two of the popular mold remediation products; MMR and GMP. Both are bleach based (Sodium Hypochlorite) Mold and Mildew Stain removers that some contractors are using in attics. These are not products that I recommend or use due their high toxicity. S

Note: Clorox bleach is a 5.25% solution of Sodium Hypochlorite mixed with water. MMR and GMP products are 7.00%. When the bleach evaporates, the water left over feeds the mold root system. This will actually eventually cause the mold spores to grow back, usually in larger numbers then what you started with.

The key thing to remember for either DIY or professional mold removal – no bleach based products.

Molds are part of the fungal kingdom, which also includes mushrooms, wood rots, and yeasts. There are two categories of fungi:

Fleshy macrofungi: This type of mold grows fruiting bodies which we call mushrooms or toadstools.

Powdery microfungi: This type of mold is normally referred to as mold or mildew which produces microscopic spores all along the surface of the fungal growth.

Mold spores are everywhere in the natural environment. They just lay there dormant waiting to be activated. They hide out in house dust. They get tracked in on shoes and get trapped in carpeting. They fly in on air currents. They are just searching for food. When they find food, which is anything biodegradable, they land on it and wait for a water source so they can start eating. If there is no water source forthcoming, they will go dormant or die of thirst. How do you activate the mold spores? Give them water. How do you deactivate them? Take the water away. It really is that simple, get rid of the water and you get rid of the mold.

Look outside your window. What do you see? You see mold growth everywhere on everything. Mold is in its natural environment. The main purpose of mold is to break down dead materials such as wood and fibers (substances used in building materials). It’s the BIO in biodegradable.

If mold is everywhere, then why isn’t it growing all over the inside of your house? It’s because your house is an artificial environment. You control the temperature and the humidity of your home. This is what I always tell my clients: “You don’t have a mold problem, you have a water problem.”

A common question about mold is, “Is it the black mold?” This is usually asked about attic mold. The mold in the attic may be black, but it rarely is the black mold. The mold that most people are concerned with is Stachybotrys. STACHYBOTRYS is typically associated with water damage. This is a slow growing, dark mold that grows well on cellulosic (paper-containing) building materials. It can produce a number of different macrocyclic trichothecenes which have been described as being toxic to humans and animals. Individuals with chronic exposure to the toxins produced by this mold report cold and flu-like symptoms, sore throats, headaches, fatigue, dermatitis, itching and burning sensations of the eyes and nose, and general malaise. This mold is rarely found in outdoor air samples, and it is usually not found in indoor air samples unless the colony is dry is then physically disturbed. This mold is common everywhere growing on soil and decaying plant material. Stachybotrys needs a high water content to grow.

So what type of mold is in your attic? If the mold growth is caused by water vapor as opposed to water leakage, the mold type is usually Cladosporium. Cladosporium is the most common spore type reported in the air worldwide. Outdoors it is found on dead and dying plant litter and soil. Indoors it is commonly found on wood and wallboard. It typically grows on window sills, textiles, and foods.